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Friday, 27 December 2013

The dartless woven tee has come out well, though very snug in the shoulders. I think the block does not have enough ease for the non-stretch nature of the fabric personally so have added a strip in the centre front as it seems to be the width across the front above the bust which is a little too narrow.

I added a braclet length sleeve from another pattern, but used the sleeve cap from the book. I also added to the side seams which I shaped in slightly at the waist and a little to the length. And of course I did a forward head alteration to the front, and a round back alteration to the back, adding a centre back seam to the pattern.

I followed the bias neckline directions on the Grainline website which produced very good results, and although time consuming this is definitely a method I would use again as the results are very neat.

Since I have used a dark navy viscose (rayon) fabric from the stash it is a little hard to see the details.

I will try to get a shot of me wearing it. It fits very neatly in the shoulders, but I would like a little more ease here in future versions, so have added a little tissue to the centre front for the next version.

I really like this blouse and there are definitely going to be quite a few other versions in future. With the long sleeves this used about 1.2m of 150cm wide fabric. However a short sleeved version could definitely be got out of 1m, and even smaller pieces could be used by adding a contrast back or sleeves or even a yoke, so I think this will enable me to spin off into various blouse options.

I have some old viscose print skirts I cut apart and kept hoping to be able to make blouses instead, so I think this will work very well for those.

Thursday, 26 December 2013

A lovely friend bought me the Great British Sewing Bee book for Christmas.

It has one pattern included in the back but most of the others are downloadable from the Publishers website - link here.
The pattern which meets something I have been looking for in my stash, and not quite finding, was for what I was calling a woven tee ie a simple dartless pull over top designed for lightweight woven fabrics. They have one they call 'Blouse with collar' which has a simple Peter Pan collar attached, not a shape which is good for me, but the rest of it is exactly what I have been looking for so I was quite pleased.

I have downloaded and printed out, but not yet tackled the whole taping together thing yet, and I shall definitely compare it to some favourite knit tee patterns before testing in some muslin fabric. This could be a great way to use some of my nice blouse fabrics for work without all the faff of collars, buttons and etc. I shall keep you posted.
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Updated to show it is printed out, trimmed and glued together with PVA and currently drying.
I don't own the Grainline Scout Woven Tee, but wonder how similar it is?

- this is now mostly orange/red and black, so still strong just redder. This
one is for me to wear. I don't like how the pink and purple are still peeking through in places so I think this will get some red applied by hand. This is to wear with a black suit.

Long pink scarf with burgundy bits, overdyed with the remnants of the red orange dye bath.

- this had a weaker version of the dye bath and was a closer colour
before. This is now a warmer pink and I'm really pleased with it.This is
also for me. I shall leave this one alone now, and hopefully it would be great with a dark plum dress and amber earrings.

Turquoise blue scarf had extra green and turquoise added.

- now has more colour variation, though perhaps has lost some of the
delicate tracery. It seems to still have some of the soft underlying
abstract flowers and definitely more life and energy. One end is greener
and one end is bluer, not sure if this is fun or a problem. This is
planned as a gift for a teal loving lady so I am slightly worried it is
too green in parts now. I'm now wondering about added more blue to the
too green parts! Maybe a bridge too far?

Pale blue had purple and pink added.

- this was really bland, but with watered down pink and purple added to a
scrunched up scarf now has abstract flower shapes all over which I
think is great. This one has definitely improved, but will need hand
hemming (sigh). This is planned as a gift for an elderly lady, and once
hemmed I hope she will like it.

Friday, 20 December 2013

I recently picked up New Look 6013 as it came with Sew magazine. I like the dress and the jacket, and the reviews seem to think they are easy to sew if rather generous amounts of ease. This is good as the envelope only goes up to a 16, and I measure more than that on my lower half.

A plain shift dress and a textured fabric for a jacket and these could be great for work.

Continuing in my upgrading the work classics theme, I bought some black leather Penny Loafers to wear with trouser suits to the office.

They have leather uppers and leather soles, and are otherwise fairly forgettable, but imagine them with my super comfy support insoles inside so my knees don't hurt when walking a lot and worn with a nice sharp trouser suit. Definitely appropriate don't you think?
I won't be wearing them with skirts as they are too clunky for that, but I hope they will prove useful in the work wardrobe.

I also have ordered some new spectacles, which should come in about 3 weeks. I have a complex prescription (very short sighted and with astigmatism) so can be tricky getting specs which look OK and are comfy to wear. These seem to fit the bill.

More grown up than my current ones which are from the teenage range to reduce weight (as I had headaches with the glass lenses from the weight pressing on my sinuses), these are now proper adult women's ones and can still take the thin and light plastic lenses. The frames fit better and are more in proportion to my face which is really nice. The fitter was fantastic (an older man) and really wanted to help me find something flattering which would take my lenses and be a sensible price - fantastic customer service.

Thursday, 19 December 2013

No pictures as yet, but I tried some overdying of all but the first scarf.

Long violently pink/blue/purple narrow scarf overdyed with a red orange dye bath.
- this is now mostly orange/red and black, so still strong just redder. Would be quite a statement with a black suit and amber earrings. This one is for me to wear.

Long pink scarf with burgundy bits, overdyed with the remnants of the red orange dye bath.
- this had a weaker version of the dye bath and was a closer colour before. This is now a warmer pink and I'm really pleased with it.This is also for me.

Turquoise blue scarf had extra green and turquoise added.
- now has more colour variation, though perhaps has lost some of the delicate tracery. It seems to still have some of the soft underlying abstract flowers and definitely more life and energy. One end is greener and one end is bluer, not sure if this is fun or a problem. This is planned as a gift for a teal loving lady so I am slightly worried it is too green in parts now. I'm now wondering about added more blue to the too green parts! Maybe a bridge too far?

Pale blue had purple and pink added.
- this was really bland, but with watered down pink and purple added to a scrunched up scarf now has adstract flower shapes all over which I think is great. This one has definitely improved, but will need hand hemming (sigh). This is planned as a gift for an elderly lady, and once hemmed I hope she will like it.

Wednesday, 18 December 2013

I have been experimenting with dying silk scarf blanks in the microwave.

This large square scarf started the colour of the tee at the top of the picture, which was part of the bulk lot dyeds with Dylon machine dye. The pink wasn't a very flatteringshade for me, so I wanted to add some warmth. I added yellow, red-orange, red and a little bit of brown, and I do like the new overall sunset colour, though the smattering bits of brown have not worked as well as I had hoped.

This large rectangular scarf was also the same pink colour originally. Here I mixed up a burgundy shade and also added some yellow highlights which show up as orange. I am not sure this has changed colour quite enough for my liking, so this might get some more overdying to warm it up properly.

This scarf started out as a classic white blank long scarf, but not as large as the previous one. I scrunched this up on a plastic sheet on the draining board and dripped the dye on with a pipette. The dye then made sort of flower patterns as it went through the wet silk. I like the effect, but it is quite a strong colour combination, and I am not sure if this will appeal to the intended gift recipient. The colours are too cool for me.... so not sure what will happen with this one.

Another plain white silk blank, this time I tried to keep the silk a lot wetter. I've used three shade of turquoise, teal and blue and got them to blend together more than in the one before. This is very pretty up close, but the delicate effects don't show much a little further away!

This is a piece of silk, so will need hemming somehow (may need to buy some silk thread). I've used the same colours as in the scarf above, but diluted them first with water to give a paler shade. This is even softer, so not sure if the effect is too subtle and therefore boring.

I am definitely hooked now, and will be trying to take what I have learned and be able to make scarves that come out as I want them to in future!

Sunday, 15 December 2013

Quite a while back (August apparently) I cut into one of my precious pieces of boiled wool, with this pattern I had muslined, with some help from J. I got quite a long way through the construction today, before heading of to a Carol service (where a friend was singing in the choir) and home to watch the recording of the GBSB Christmas Special.

Here's the fabric

and the pattern

I will share more when it is all completed, which will be a few days due to having to go to work!

However the sleeves are already constructed so just need inserting, decision on what hemming approach to use.
I may actually hand hem for once, since I like the look so far with no stitching showing, it's nice and clean.
And I will either go button and loop, or some sort of hidden fur hooks type closure, I don't want to try and make classic buttonholes in this fabric!

Then whilst I have navy blue on all the machines, I fancy an interesting skirt from a navy and white check. Something all on interesting angles (cut about) to wear with knee high boots. I found the fabric, but what happened to the pattern?

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edited to add that I do already own 'Pants for Real People' and have started reading the section called 'Fly Front Zipper for Women' on pages 107-109, but it is not currently sinking in. I shall read it in bed a couple of times and then eventually try it out and I am sure it will be fine. I seem to do the thinking ahead of the doing these days but seem to get better results interestingly than the old approach of just ploughing ahead.

I have been looking back through some older burda magazines (I keep them all and have had donations also from other sewing friends) and liked the look of the plus trousers #135.

They are half lined with side pockets, a front zip and a 2 part waistband. Size 44 uses 1.7m of fabric. They look a lot like my favourite RTW half lined wool mix trousers so I can see them working in my wardrobe.

The only part that I am not particularly confident on is the front fly zip.

I have had good results with Burda trousers in the past. I seem to fit well into their size 44, with just a bit of alteration to take in the back waist. However I think usually I have been using the 44 at the top end of the standard sizing, not the bottom end of the plus sizing, so I will have to see how that works out. The Burda crotch curve generally works quite well for me, particuarly the way they put more to the back crotch and less to the front. If I alter a Simplity pattern to fit, it ends up looking a lot like a Burda, so I just trace the Burda ones!
The image for the trousers looks a bit skinny, and not much like the model.

Not sure what's going on there. I will probably do a muslin or mock up as PJs first before I cut into the wool.
If i could get these to work, they would be fabulous go-to supporting act pieces don't you think?

Saturday, 14 December 2013

I have been thinking about what would be useful extra pieces in my wardrobe, as well as continuing to incorporate those already cut out projects I plan to sew up as part of SWAP.

I am going to replace the knit pants with a black wool pencil skirt, as I know I would never wear knit pants for work.And I am going to replace the sweater knit cardigan jacket with a lined black wool jacket.This will give me another work suit, and being wool, the pieces will also work as separates with the dark green tweed pieces.

I
am going to use the black ponte (which was for the knit pants) in a
simple shift dress which could work with any of the jackets.And I'm
going to add some woven black pants into the mix as well, something from
Burda with a waistband and lots of fullness in the hips/thighs made
from a drapey washable fabric.

So the list now is:-Green wool tweed used for jacket, skirt and waistcoatBlack wool used for jacket and skirtBlack ponte dressBlack woven trousersOrange turtleneck top, cream mock wrap top and another top which needs to be a shirt/blouse.Green cord skirt

Tuesday, 10 December 2013

I decided to try dying a few things with Dylon's Flamingo Pink machine dye.

This is after the run with the dye, they are now back in being washed with detergent.

from left to right
natural linen, was quite a dark tan (darker when wet) now more of a plum wine
yellow knit and yellow woven cotton, these have come out hot pink
plain white silk scarf blanks, these have come out flamingo pink as per the packet
peach broderie anglaise, this has picked up a little of the pink and therefore must be a polycotton with a lot of poly

Sunday, 8 December 2013

Loosely following the instructions for this Infinity Scarf, I made a scrap of fabric into a silky scarf.

It is a drapey jaquard polyester, in a lovely ivory pearl type colour, which I thought would be great for lightening a dark dress or blouse, and also allows somewhere for a brooch or scarf pin. It can also be loosely knotted, or worn draped freely. It won't ever come undone though which is great.

I also put up my artificial Christmas tree and dressed it with lights and decorations, which I think is lovely. I am really enjoying my Christmas music and festive decor. I donated two boxes this year but still have plenty which is great. I am much happier with a bit less.

Thursday, 5 December 2013

The back of the dress is made from 4 panels in the darker colour.
I love this colourway but wonder what it would look like in black and grey for instance.

Looks smart but also a little bit different doesn't it. I shall go and have a look through the sewing pattern boxes and see what might work.
My version would have the same slim skirt but finish below the knee. It would also have all the alterations needed to actually fit me.....

I am not sure if this will change the direction of my SWAP plan or not. If things carry on like this I probably won't actually manage to complete another SWAP, but it is not like I am short of clothes to wear.

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Thinking about it, one thing I have noticed in the past when I hit the giant Pause button in an area of my life, is that then (sometimes several months later) when I come off pause, things go off in a slightly different direction. Almost always for the better (at least from my perspective).
Sometimes I need to take the data, the feedback and process it, observe, try things, process some more and out of that come new and interesting things. The more challenge there is to who I think I am and what I thought I knew, the longer/more difficult the process. But probably its richer and truer because of that.

So I suspect that the SWAP plan will get revised, or scrapped or something, especially if I decide to go for a totally work appropriate SWAP. But that's not a bad thing at all, it will just more accurately reflect the person I have grown up to be at that point.

I think the new direction will be more elegant, streamlined and allow space for details. It is going to be interesting isn't it? I'm quite excited.